A Louisiana man is dead after staging an underwater marriage proposal in Tanzania, according to media reports.
The couple, Kenesha Antoine and Steven Weber Jr., were staying in an underwater room offshore on a “bucket list” vacation, the BBC reported.
In a Facebook post paying tribute to Weber and his “beautiful soul”, Antoine shared images and video of what became their last moments together.
The video shows a man swimming in waters outside the resort’s transparent cabin. He was holding a piece of paper inside a clear plastic bag with the words, “I can’t hold my breath long enough to tell you everything I love about you but everything I love about you I love more every day.”
A woman can be heard laughing as the man’s stunt continues.
The reverse side of the paper said: “Will you please be my wife?”
He then fished the ring out of his pocket.
In what Antoine described as “the cruellest twist of fate imaginable,” Weber never came back up to the surface.
“You never emerged from those depths, so you never got to hear my answer, ‘Yes! Yes! A million times, yes, I will marry you!!’ We never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together.”
Officials at the Manta Resort in Tanzania told BBC that Weber died while free-diving outside the underwater room on Thursday.
The CEO told the U.K. outlet that everyone at the resort is “shaken to the core” by Weber’s death, which they described as a drowning.
The U.S. State Dept. told media outlets they were aware of an American’s death in Tanzania but other details were not provided.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance,” an official told the Baton Rouge Advocate.
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